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No, "Angel" is DEFINITELY not on the list
So, I’ve talked about re-nicknaming Babby, since he will soon not be so much a Babby as a toddler, and also because he is developing a personality and deserves to have that acknowledged.
Thanks to all who made suggestions! If you think of others, feel free to toss them out there, but in the meantime, please give your opinion on existing ideas.
I have considered, and tossed away, the following options:
Stubborn (too negative, since he is not so much STUBBORN as… strong willed/opinionated)
Cheerful (positive and mostly true, but will seem weird when I complain about his tantrums during the toddler years or when I post pictures like this)
Screamy McGee (it fits him less every day, although I am sure there will be days, during the terrible twos, when it will fit him to a tee…)
Perfect Son (an appropos suggestion, but possibly damaging emotionally to Babby’s future siblings, and untrue in any case)
% (another suggestion, to which I will not apply adjectives)
Toddy (makes him sound like a night cap)
I am also concerned that it will be confusing to those who think of him as “Babby” to go to a totally different name, so I have considered similar sounding names such as:
Bobby
Billy
Buddy (an actual nickname we use)
However, since these are actual people names, but not HIS name, I am afraid people might think my son’s name actually is Billy or Buddy, and that’s not quite right, either.
Other names still on the table:
Owl or Little Owl (a great suggestion, since my mother calls him this all the time, and he DOES have massive eyes, and he sure doesn’t sleep well at night)
Wol (because “owl” is awkward to say out loud, and because Owl in Winnie The Pooh spells his name Wol)
Willful (a more positive trait name, which I feel fits his personality more)
Goobs/Goobergeiger (a real life nickname of ours, taken from Mission Hill)
What names do you like?
There’s also the problem that I have a mild form of synaesthesia. I am concerned that people will be confused if I go to a different COLOURED name. For example, “Babby” is a blue word, and his real name is a gold/brown word. I’m afraid that people will be confused if he goes from being blue to being, say, purple or green.
That is a normal concern, right? Am I misleading you all by making you think he is blue or another colour, when he is actually gold/brown?
Should his new name be another blue name, so as not to confuse my readership, or should it fit his real name in colour, thus aligning his nickname with reality better?
So, if it affects your judgement, Buddy/Bobby/Billy are more or less the same colour as Babby (because b is blue, you see). Owl and Willful are similar in colour to his ACTUAL name.
Just in case it matters to you.
It might.
If By Yes 
Um well you know my opinion….why lament over a nickname when he already has one OWL!! Or owlbert which he gets from me occasionally….
Hee hee. Owlbert.
Oh, Wol! I vote for Wol. That’s great. But Owl would be a great choice, too, given THOSE EYES, oh, those eyes. 🙂
(And you have synaesthesia? That is too cool! Have you read “The Man who Tasted Shapes”?)
I have not! I`ll keep an eye out for it.
It`isn`t as cool as some people`s experiences. Some people actually SEE the colours. For me, it`s more of an association. My kind of synesthesia is more common, but less awesome.
I like both Owl and Willful. They both fit him quite nicely!
I like those two the best, too.
OMFG, there is a name for that??
I don’t have it, but let’s just say that it made naming not one, but two children with Mr. Goldragon extremely difficult, and frustrating. In fact, the thought of coming up with YET ANOTHER NAME with him was one of the deciding factors against having any more children. My sympathy for PH just went up ten-fold.
One of my RL nicknames for the Boy is Buddy, too, but then again it’s my go to nickname for all little boys. It weirds Mr. Goldragon out a bit, as his Dad’s nickname was Buddy as well, into adulthood. I try to shorten it to “Little Bud,” and that’s what the Girl calls him sometimes too, which is too cute.
I feel like the new nickname should match your theme of nicknames. I can’t come up with one, though. My ability to come up with nicknames for my OWN kids is severely lacking. Owl is nice.
Is that why both of your children have such distinctly-coloured names?
My synesthesia didn’t come into account much when we were choosing names, and I’m curious how Mr. Goldragon used it as a rule-out criteria. Did he veto certain colours?
And Bud is my nickname for most small males, either child, dog, or cat.
He was able to veto one of my favourite names on the grounds that it was “a brown name.” And I’m like, “THAT’S NOT A REAL REASON,” and he’s all, “it’s totally a real reason,” and on like that.
Babby’s name is a brown name. I don’t mind. I like brown all right. At least it’s a GOLD brown.
Mr. Goldragon and I should get together and see if our synesthesias match.
He has a friend he grew up with who’s synesthesia matched with his own, but he (Mr. G.) claims it’s because of the way the alphabet coloured in posters in their primary class.
That makes sense. I wish I remembered how the alphabet board was coloured when I was little, so I could know if that was the root of mine!
This is so fascinating!! And begs the question: does a certain name have the OBVIOUS color association for him or not?
I dunno about Mr. G, but for me it does.
Normally, word colours are largely affected by their most prominent letters. Therefore, since the letter C is yellow, for example, my own name is yellow. However, the word Cinnamon is red.
It is also affected by the colors of the objects, when we are discussing a noun. So similarly, Chili is a red word, although a word like Charlie or Chesterfield would be yellow. Grass is a green word, even though G is brown.
It does, but he feels that it shouldn’t. The first letter is yellow, but the entire name has the more obvious colour association.
Wow!! This is just so fascinating!
I consider myself a very visual person, but this color-letter/word association is all new to me. Very, very interesting. Thanks for indulging my curiosity!
I too was very interested to hear about the synaesthesia, and speaking of related books, do you know of the brilliant children’s picture book by Tim Hopgood called “Here Comes Frankie”? Frankie learns to play the trumpet and all kinds of colours and smells are produced. My 3 yr old boy loves that story at the moment so it could be one you enjoy reading to Babby in the not-too-distant future.
I found my way to this blog via MaryP, by the way, and since this is my first comment can I also add that Babby is utterly gorgeous. And you take some really beautiful photos.
Thank you, and welcome!
I like Owl. Both my girls were/are night owls. I used to hear an owl when up in the middle of the night nursing.
I love owls!
Synesthesia, eh? Interesting… Never heard of that one before! Is there a name for the condition of jazz music making one very angry and Classical music making one anxious? ‘Cause that’s what I’ve got!
Owl works for me, too. 🙂 Little Cutie!
I think that’s just “tastes in music” or “classical associations built around previous experiences” :-p But some people associate music with certain shapes, or colours!
No, it’s definitely more than a taste thing. ‘Cause I HATE country music, but that doesn’t do anything TO me. It’s a visceral reaction that creates an emotional response. I feel it physically first. I’ve tried to fight it, but it’s hard.
Music totally affects me viscerally too. It’s part of what music does. Thankfully, mostly it’s positive. Except that when I was pregnant I really couldn’t listen to angry heavy metal.
Maybe it IS a classical association! Think, did anyone ever beat you up while singing Vivaldi’s “Spring” suite? :-p
Ha! Not that I know of…
I like Buddy if you want to go blue, but Wol wins hands down for me. I love Winnie the Pooh.
I like Wol too. PH think’s it’s too much like Wall.
Agreed with PH. I like the IDEA, but the pronunciation kills it for me.
When I say it out loud I agree, but I don’t “hear” words when I read, so blog names are just visual for me. I tend to forget that not everyone reads that way.
I like Buddy and Owl or Wol. Have you thought about initials, like PH? One of my favorite bloggers calls his stepson, Littlest Buddy, so he is referred to as LB in the blog and I love that.
I can’t imagine him with any other name besides Babby but I would love to know his real name (because I’m nosy that way).
If I called him Little Owl, he could be LO for short, which many people use to mean Little One. Maybe a double meaning?
How about Bobble? As in Bobble-head, which you have mentioned a few times already.
Though that may require adjustment again when his body catches up to his head 🙂
Which will surely happen, someday… won’t it??
You can certainly hope so!
I like Owl, even though I’ve always thought of him as a Turtle.
He was totally a sea turtle when he was born, but then again, both owls and turtles have big-eyed, beaky little faces.
Which leads to “Beaky” as a possibility….
i think the obvious name from both beaky animals is “Beaker”….consequentially, I have a friend who has a pet owl named Beaker.
BALLS. *deleted expletives*
I meant coincidentally. Temporary word retrieval issue.
at least it’s not a ‘p’ word….
LOL
I say go with colours!
Little Boy Blue, or the Golden Child.
I like that idea!
Golden Child is great – follows naturally from Perfect Husband!
Agreed!
Owl!
Little Owl! 🙂
All of these are really sweet. I will always think of him as a sea turtle, in the most wonderful way. But I like Owl too.
I have synaesthesia too! And in a way that’s very similar to what you’ve described. 🙂 I have the same thing where the colour of certain words gets corrupted by associated colours as well (“heart” is red, even though it should be green, etc.)
Except that I have to tell you, Babby is clearly a forest green colour, and his real name is kind of a dusty rose. 😉 Clearly.
I stand corrected.
Well, except that I’m sitting.
Edwina!
You’re fired :-p
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